Side grip carton handling means for lift trucks



April 6, 1954 EHMANN 2,674,387

SIDE GRIP CARTON HANDLING MEANS FOR LIFT TRUCKS Filed Aug. 10, 1950 2Sheets-Sheet l mu? J 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 SIDE GRIP CARTON HANDLING MEANSFOR LIFT TRUCKS n "A; m%a I a Q W Y B 5 4 0 6 0. 7 2

April 6. 1954 Filed Aug. 10, 1950 Patented Apr. 6, 19 54 SIDE GRIPCARTON HANDLING MEANS FOR LIFT TRUCKS Leslie G. Ehmann, Portland, -reg.,assignor to Hyster Company, Portland, '0reg., a corporation of OregonApplication August 10, 1950, Serial No. 178.741

2 Claims. 1

This invention relates to a new and improved form-of side grip arms andcooperating means for use with a truck for lifting and carrying cartonsor similar articles, and it has for its object the provision of animproved construction by which two oppositely disposed arms, by pressureon opposite sides of a carton or a pile of cartons, are adapted to exerta strong grip on the cartons for enabling the arms to lift and carry orotherwise manipulate the cartons and their contents to the extentrequired in a manufacturing plant or ware- .house, or the like.

By the use of my improved mechanism, I am able very advantageously tohandle stacked cartons or other articles without the necessity of havingsuch cartons on pallets or skids for enabling them to be picked up. Ihave thus avoided completely a very substantial factor of expense andlabor involved in the provision, handling and storage of a large numberof such pallets. Fur thermore, Ihave contemplated that the materialsbeing handled can be stacked to much better advantage and much morecompactly without having the pallets interposed between portions .of thestacked .materials. By the use of my improvements, the size andarrangement of the load picked up can be controlled and varied from timeto time to correspond closely with the space into which the load is tobe fitted. By my invention also, I have been enabled to manipulate thepicked up load in many instances to much better advantage, as byinverting the pile of cartons, for example, which of course could not bedone ordinarily in the use of a pallet and a load of carton or otherarticles placed loosely in position thereon.

It has been one of the objects of my invention to provide an improvedpressure arm and associated parts having a certain degree of flexibilityby which pressure can be applied evenly and effectively on the face of apile of cartons regardless of slight irregularities in the shape of thepile due to irregular stacking of the cartons or to slight variations inthe sizes of the several cartons, and to provide a structure by whichthe pressure shall be applied effectively over a substantial area forenabling the arms to pick up a large number of comparatively smallcartons, with a substantial frictional grip on the faces of the cartons:at the outside of the pile so as to hold the pile securely Withoutdanger of slipping.

For attaining the desired degree of flexibility in the action of the armstructure, I have provided two pressure plates pivotally mounted onvertical axes on an equalizer member which in turn is pivotally mountedon a vertical axis on the arm. Suitably yielding means is provided inconnection with the pressure plates for cushioning them with respect tothe equalizer, and other yielding means is provided in connection withthe equalizer for cushioning it with respect to the arms.

In the preferred form of my invention, provision is made for using twooppositely disposed arms embodying flexibly supported gripping parts atopposite sides of a pile of cartons; or alternatively, for usin at oneside of the pile one of said arms having a flexibly supported grippingpart and at the other side of the pile a rigid arm or plate. By the useof such alternative arrangement, comprising a rigid pressure plate atone side, I am able to select and grip cartons from much more closelyspaced stacks and place them in more closely spaced stacks, since suchrigid stationary arm can be made quite thin, while still maintaining therequired strength of construction.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent alsofrom the following description of an exemplary embodiment of myinvention disclosed for illustrative purposes by reference to theaccompanying two sheets of drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspectiveview of a lift truck equipped with one preferred form of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of a modified form of load handling arms, witha plurality of cartons shown by dotted lines in position between thearms;

Fig. 3 is a face view of a modified construction of flexible armstructure;

Fig. 4 is an outer face view of one of the pressure plates as shown inFig.1;

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially at the line 5-5of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is an outer face view of the equalizer of the Fig. 1construction;

Fig. '7 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially at the linel---! of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a top plan view of the arm as shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig; 9 is a horizontal sectional view through the arm as shown in saidFig. 1 or Fig, 3, being taken substantially at the line 9-9 of Fig. 3.

In the drawings, 15 indicates a lift truck of the type shown anddescribed in my prior application Serial Number 32,429., filed June 11,1948, having a body l6 adapted to serve as a counterbalance for theweight of a load to be picked up,

and having its front end supported by carrying wheels IT. A driver in aseat I8 is able to steer the truck by the use of the usual steeringwheel E9, the rear end portion of the truck being supported preferablyby a single caster wheel (not shown) so as to enable the maneuvering ofthe truck to advantage for handling materials to be transported andstacked.

The truck I5, as shown by my drawings, is provided with head members 20at opposite sides movable transversely of the truck on supporting rods21 slidably mounted in tubular guides 22 carried by frame plates 23forming parts of a load carriage as described by my said earlierapplication Serial No. 32,429. The load carriage and the head members 20are also movable vertically with respect to the vertical beams 24 of aframe which, in turn, is movable vertically relative to a framecomprising vertically positioned beams 25 carried by the body of thetruck.

On the head members til at opposite sides of the truck, as shown in Fig.1, arms 26 are fixedly mounted, the arm at each side being made fromsheet metal in the form of a channel bar (see Fig. 9) comprising a webportion El and flanges 28, and having a mounting plate portion 29 at theend strongly connected with the web and the flanges to provide a rigidconnection of the arm with the head it by fastening means, such asmachine screws 36. Each of the arms 26 is provided on its inner facewith two bearing face members in the form of pressure plates 3i arrangedside-by-side in substantially vertical position, in slightly spacedrelationship to each other. Each of the plates Si is pivotally mountedon an axis parallel to the surface, so as to be adapted to swing withrespect to the arm 2'3 independently of the other plate. Said plates 3!are also movable alternatively toward the arm 26, being mounted inposition by means of an elongated pressure member in the form of anequalizer in such arrangement that when one of said plates moves towardthe arm the other plate is moved in the direction away from the arm.

As is shown in Figs. 4 to 8, each of the equalizer members is in theform of a heavy metal sheet 32 having its end portions angled withrespect to each other and reinforced and strengthened in such angledarrangement by flanges 33 and 34 at the top and bottom edgesrespectively of such sheet 32, the equalizer being thus in the form of achannel and being pivotally mounted on the arm 23 by a heavy headedpivot pin 35 passing through the flanges 28, 33 and 34 so as to permitthe equalizer to swing freely with respect to the arm. For cushioningthe swinging movement of the equalizer on the arm, the equalizer isprovided with resilient blocks 35 and 31' of rubber or like material onits face at opposite sides of the pivot pin 35, being of such thicknessas to permit the equalizer to move freely through limited swingingmovements without coming into contact with the web plate 2'! of the arm,but so as to give the desired cushioning effect when the angle ofswinging movement is increased.

The pressure plates El are mounted on the equalizer 32 through ribmembers 88 and 39 secured by welding on the back faces of said pressureplates. Each of the rib members 32 is provided with an opening 40therethrough adapted to fit on a pin il extending upwardly from theflange 33 of the equalizer 32, the rib members 39 being provided withcorrespondingly positioned openings 42, with bolts 43 secured throughsaid openings 42 and openings 4% in the end portions of the flange 34.Rubber cushioning blocks 45 are mounted on the rear faces of thepressure plates 31 in position to engage the face of the equalizer so asto limit the swinging movements of the plates with respect to theequalizer and the arm 26.

The action of the cushioning blocks 36, 31 and 45 as stops for limitingthe swinging movements of the equalizer members on the arms and theswinging movements of the pressure plates on the equalizer membersserves to keep the equalizers and the pressure plates normally inposition for the application of pressure on the face of a carton or apile of cartons. Also by reason of the arrangement of stop means asshown, either one of the pressure plates on one of the arms is adaptedto be used independently of the other plate on said arm for pressing acarton against the arm at the opposite side. This enables a truck tohandle a load of comparatively small size with such load positionedclosely adjacent to the face of the load carriage on the truck.

The construction as shown in Fig. 3 is similar to that shown in Fig. 1except for the changed position of the mounting ribs 38 and 33, suchribs being at a lower level with respect to the plates 3! in thearrangement shown in Fig. 3. By the use of the construction as shown inFig. 3, pressure can be applied to ver great advantage on the sides of acarton or a pile of cartons at points very close to the bottom of acarton or stack.

In the construction as illustrated in Fig. 2, a pressure arm 26, asabove described, is used at one side, with a very thin arm structure atthe other side. In this ensemble, a pressure plate 46 is supported in anormally vertical position by an arm 41 secured fixedly on one of thehead members 20 by machine screws 48 extending through a mounting plateportion 49 positioned at right angles to the arm. By the use of thisarrangement, a load comprising a plurality of cartons 59, as shown bydotted lines in said Fig. 2, can be stacked by the truck in very closerelationship to the previously positioned cartons of a pile, the arm 41and pressure plate 46 being so thin as to take very little room betweenthe adjacent portions of the pile.

I have found that in the use of this arrangement, as shown in Fig. 2,with the rigid arm 41 at one side and the more flexible arrangementcomprising the equalizer member 33 and the movable pressure plates 3| atthe opposite side, the adaptability of the arms for picking up loads ofirregular size and shape is such as to make the arrangement efiectivefor meeting all of the requirements in most situations involving thetransportation and stacking of cartons or the like.

By the use of my invention, I am enabled without the use of pallets orskids to pick up satisfactorily and safely a box or carton, or a stackof such boxes or cartons, and to stack them to advantage without anylikelihood of dropping a box or of tipping it unintentionally so as tolose any of the contents from the box. This ability to handle a suitablepile of cartons or the like is very largely independent of the size ofthe units handled, the principal essential being that the pile, andparticularly the bottom portion of the pile, shall be such as to permitthe pivoted plate members 3| to apply pressure at the necessary criticalpoints for enabling the arms to grip and pick up the pile, even thoughthe pile may be of irregular shape and may be made up of boxes of widelydifferent sizes and shapes. I have found that my improved constructionis highly effective for this purpose by virtue of its novel constructionand arrangement as described.

While I have illustrated a preferred embodiment of my invention, manymodifications may be made without departing from the spirit of myinvention, and I do not wish to be limited to the precise details ofconstruction set forth, but desire to avail myself of all changes withinthe scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a carton handling structure for applying pressure on the side faceof a carten or stacked cartons or the like, the combination of an arm ofchannel shape, means for mounting said arm in substantially horizontalposition on a truck, an equalizer member also in the form of a channelswingingly mounted on said arm, said channels being positioned withtheir flanges in overlapping relationship with respect to each other,resilient blocks interposed in one of said channels and extending intothe other of the channels at opposite sides of the axis about which theequalizer member swings with respect to said arm for cushioning swingingmovements of the equalizer member with respect to the arm, pressureplates swingingly mounted on opposite end portions of said equalizermember, and resilient blocks interposed between said equalizer memberand said pressure plates for cushioning swinging movements of saidpressure plates with respect to said equalizer member.

2. A carton handling structure as specified in claim 1, in which saidfirst-named resilient blocks are mounted on said equalizer member oncpposite end portions thereof and said second named resilient blocks aremounted on said pressure plates adjacent to the axes about which saidpres sure plates are adapted to swing, and in which said resilientblocks by cooperative action serve normally to hold the pressure platesin position with their pressure faces substantially parallel to theposition of said arm.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,018,260 Myrholm Feb. 20, 1912 1,221,765 Penfield Apr. 3,1917 1,519,736 Lewis Dec. 16, 1924 1,862,299 Ciccone June 7, 19322,323,810 Fontaine -z July 6, 1943 2,475,367 Avery July 5, 19492,530,375 Cartwright Nov. 21, 1950 2,536,151 Backofen et a1. Jan. 2,1951 2,554,433 Warren May 22, 1951 2,574,857 Ball Nov. 13, 19512,604,220 Frischmann July 22, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date702,625 France Jan. 26, 1931

